Recently, the wild cards for the Australian Open 2024 were announced, and as expected, India’s top-ranked singles player, Sumit Nagal’s name was missing. Even though there was a chance that WR-138 Nagal would have featured in the main draw of the Australian Open, but he was denied a chance by the All India Tennis Association, as they refused to send his nomination for the wild card.
Out of the eight, a major chunk goes to the host nation — Australia, and one each to the USA and France, as part of an understanding. Then the one remaining is allotted to a player from other nations, which this time went to China’s Juncheng Shang, who ranked 183rd in the world, way below Nagal.
Had the AITA sent Nagal’s nomination, he was in with a great chance, due to his superior ranking, and his performance in 2023. Meanwhile, the 26-year-old Indian is the last from the country to play in the main draw of the singles — at 2021 Australian Open, when he received a singles wildcard reserved for a player from the Asia-Pacific region.
Having said that, Nagal will still have a chance to make it to the main draw, after participating in the qualifiers.
Australian Open 2024 Wild Card Entries:
James Duckworth
Marc Polmans
Jason Kubler
James McCabe
Adam Walton
Juncheng Shang
Patrick Kypson
Arthur Cazaux
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